The challenge candidates took it upon themselves to meet and greet the electorate, give them an up-close and personal opportunity to evaluate their fitness for leadership and highlight their edge over an endorsed slate that ran on history and rosy promises.

Maybe ignoring the opposition of a significant portion of residents and putting out the welcome mat for the ill-conceived Niagara water bottling plant or prioritizing the construction of a multimillion-dollar leisure center over the need to revitalize the decrepit town library sealed the endorsed slate's fate.

Or maybe it was simply time for new ideas, new energy and a fresh look at building a better Bloomfield. Hopefully it will be a clarion call to residents in other towns that change is possible. Entrenched bureaucracies are vulnerable to an aroused and determined public. If it happened in Bloomfield, it can happen in your town.